JSTOR has announced the completion of its General Science Collection
of scientific literature. The collection contains the archives, reaching
as far back as the 17th century, of seven leading scientific journals that
have been reproduced electronically exactly as they were originally designed,
illustrated, and published. Over the past year, pages from the collection
have been released in chronological segments and made available to researchers
at participating libraries and institutions worldwide.

Kevin M. Guthrie, JSTOR's president, said: "The General Science Collection
is an invaluable information resource for researchers, scientists, and
historians of science, as well as a rich teaching and learning tool for
faculty and students. With scholars and students increasingly dependent
upon resources that are electronically available, JSTOR's mission to archive
and preserve this material is serving to reinvigorate this important collection
of scholarly research."

The collection contains the complete backruns of the following:

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (1665­1886),
continued as Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engneering Sciences and
Series B: Proceedings: Biological Sciences (1887 to the moving wall, 5
years from the present)

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (1832­1904), continued as
Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences and Series B:
Proceedings: Biological Sciences (1905 to the moving wall, 5 years from
the present)

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (from 1915 to the moving
wall, 2 years from the present)

Science (from 1880 to the moving wall, 5 years from the present)

Scientific Monthly (from 1915­1957)

Some of the documents that researchers will be able to find in the collection's
1.4 million journal pages include the following:

Van Leeuwenhoek's observations through the earliest microscopes

Some of the first published descriptions of dinosaur fossils

Marconi's research leading to the development of radio

Sightings of Halley's Comet throughout history

Elizabeth Bennett, JSTOR's production coordinator, said: "Modern science
was just getting invented in the 17th century. What is wonderful about
the General Science Collection is that you can watch this take place and
see the development of the scientific method by the people who made the
rules."

To help offset the costs of creating the General Science Collection,
JSTOR received support from The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Josiah
Macy Jr. Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. There are 900
libraries worldwide and more than 115 publishers participating in this
cooperative effort.